Schwarzenegger fires back with his own TV ad

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a target of a California Teachers Association TV ad that began airing last week, is going on the offensive with a TV-spot of his own.

The CTA ad criticizes Schwarzenegger for his proposals to dramatically cut education and suspend constitutional rules on school funding.

The governor’s 60-second ad, expected to hit the airwaves tomorrow, begins with Schwarzenegger reminding viewers “you elected me to control spending in Sacramento.” He goes on to say how he won’t sign any budget package that includes taxes or doesn’t eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in government.

In the ad, Schwarzenegger also says he won’t sign anything “that pushes our financial problems down the road. Because the road stops here.”

But one problem with the ad is that raising new taxes to help bridge the state’s $26.3 billion shortfall really hasn’t been part of serious budget talks, especially in the past few days when negotiations picked up steam again.

Gale Kaufman, a political consultant for the teachers’ union, called the governor’s ad “perplexing,” adding: “What was being discussed in budget negotiations (in recent days) had nothing to do with tax increases. … Why the governor is putting on the air a 60-second ad that’s irrelevant is pretty startling.”

But Adam Mendelsohn, a political adviser for Schwarzenegger, countered by saying the “people of California deserve to know Arnold Schwarzenegger will not do anything to raise taxes.”